At The Next Web Conference 2013 last month, Dyn’s Vice President of E-Commerce and Marketing Andy Piggott gave a presentation about Growth Hacking. It was his thesis that there are skills needed and challenges to overcome in order for any organization to grow.

Growth hacking is somewhat of a contentious idea, especially within the startup environment. It’s a concept that utilizes a metrics-driven approach developers might use with the skills that a marketer would have. One growth hacker, Joe Stump, has led the charge in promoting this idea and says the use of tools such as SurveyMonkey, WuFoo, Mixpanel, SailThru, and KISSMetrics are useful in helping a marketer grow a business.

Stump’s efforts have become popular, so much so that TNW has held not one, but two sessions about growth hacking in our TNW Academy.

During Piggott’s talk, he addressed some reality checks that marketers need to be aware of, including that just because you have the best product doesn’t mean you have the best business. Rather, it comes from having good distribution. However, Piggot says the “holy grail” is to have both.

Other topics that Piggott spoke about included success metrics, how to scale a business, and other pitfalls that those interested in growth hackers should know.